Me - circa 1982
johnnyringo@oldschoolmags.com
©
oldschoolmags.com 2024
ABOUT ME
One
of
the
things
that
first
drew
me
to
BMX
way
back
in
the
early
80’s,
was
the
magazines.
I
still
remember
the
first
magazine
I
ever
bought
-
the
May
1981
issue
of
BMX
Action with Jason Jenson on the cover. I read that issue many times from cover to cover.
My
close
freinds
who
were
into
BMX
at
the
time
(Ray
J.
and
Scott
P.)
and
myself
started
bying
magazines
regularly
from
that
time
-
mostly
BMX
Action
and
BMX
Plus
(as
well
as
some
of
the
Australian
mags).
And
then
later,
Freestylin’.
We
regularly
stopped
by
the
local
newsagents
to
see
if
any
new
issues
were
available.
It
was
always
very
exciting
when new issues were on the rack.
We
would
debate
endlessly
about
who
the
best
riders
/
racers
were.
We
followed
the
adventures
of
the
‘Nerd
Herd’
as
well
as
Radical
Rick
and
the
MX
Mug.
And
we
were
forever
being
inspired
and
amazed
by
all
of
these
incredible
athletes
who
were
continually redifining and pushing the sport in new directions.
By
1988,
I
had
a
job
and
a
girlfriend.
BMX
(sadly),
had
fallen
by
the
wayside.
When
I
moved
out
of
my
father’s
house,
I
took
my
1984
Skyway
TA
with
me
but
left
a
lot
of
other
BMX
related
stuff
behind
-
which
included
my
magazines.
That
was
that
last
I
saw
of
any
of those things.
For
the
next
dozen
years
or
so,
I
ocassionly
thought
about
the
the
old
BMX
days
as
my
TA
sat
(with
no
wheels)
in
the
shed
and
then
for
many
years
in
a
hallway
cupboard.
In
the
early
2000’s,
Ray
J.
and
I
joked
about
fixing
up
our
bikes
(his
Patterson
was
in
a
similar
state
to
my
TA),
and
going
riding
again.
That
converstation
stoked
a
fire
and
I
started
searching
online
to
find
out
what
had
happened
in
the
world
of
BMX
while
I
had
been
away.
During
my
search,
I
came
across
the
site
23mag.com
.
They
had
a
number
of
scanned
magazines
available
for
download
there,
but
these
were
mostly
European
magazines.
There
was
one
issue
of
Freestylin’
and
one
poorly
scanned
BMX
Plus
issue.
This
got
me
thinking
about
how
good
it
would
be
if
there
was
an
online
library
where
you
could
read
all of the classic issues of things like BMX Action, BMX Plus and Freestylin’.
While
looking
for
old
BMX
parts
for
my
TA
on
eBay,
I
came
across
a
few
copies
of
BMX
Action
from
1982.
These
were
issues
that
I
had
had
as
a
kid.
Although
they
cost
more
than
I
really
wanted
to
spend,
I
bought
a
couple
of
them
and
decided
to
scan
them
and
release
them
via
23mag.com.
I
then
sold
those
and
bought
more
to
scan,
and
so
on
and
so on.
Sharing
scans
this
way
worked
okay,
until
the
file
host
that
I
was
using
deleted
all
of
my
uploads.
I
then
decided
that
I
had
to
build
my
own
site
so
that
I
had
control
over
what
was available. And that was the birth of Oldschoolmags.com (around 2006).
The
goal
for
the
site
is
to
get
every
issue
of
BMX
Action,
Freestylin’
and
GO
available
online
as
well
as
all
of
the
issues
of
BMX
Plus
up
to
1990.
Then,
any
other
oldschool
books and magazines from that period that we can get copies of.
Although
the
majority
of
the
work
is
mine,
this
site
is
most
certainly
a
colaberative
effort.
There
have
been
many
generous
souls
who
have
contributed
magazines,
scans
or
money
to
help
get
the
site
to
where
it
is
today.
So,
thank
you
to
all
that
have
contributed
to
the
work
so
far,
your
help
is
very
much
appreciated.
We
have
come
a
long
way,
but
there
is
still a long way to go.
A
single
magazine
usually
takes
anywhere
between
6-10
hours
of
work
to
get
it
online
-
it
doesn’t
just
magically
happen.
So,
please
support
the
site
if
you
are
in
a
position
to
do
so. This helps cover running costs and getting more mags and books available.
“When everyone contributes, then everyone benefits”.
Enjoy.
Love and best wishes,
Simon (A.K.A. Johnny Ringo).
On my TA - around 2008
If
you
value
the
work
that
this
site
makes
available,
then
please
consider
supporting
that
work by making a contribution.
If you can’t, then that’s fine.
But
please
don’t
be
one
of
those
tossers,
who
happily
spends
hundreds
of
dollars
on
some
old
bike
part
and
then
brags
about
how
cool
his
‘rides’
are,
but
won’t
kick
in
a
few
dollars
to
support
a
resource
that
benefits
the
whole
of
the
old
school
community
as
well
as them.
Thanks for your support.